The experience convinced them that “the people of God are starving for a richer picture of the One whom we worship,” Debra Rienstra writes. If you attend this church often, think back over the last several months and recall what is repeated over time at the church. "Jesus and the authors of the Scripture clearly claim that the Bible is the unique Word of God. O>("�y��zj 45B� “So many young people are hungry for a God who actually does something. And He has promised His holy presence as we worship. 080544758X BRAND NEW! Book Condition: New. Debra Rienstra, a Calvin College English professor, wrote the book with her husband, Ron Rienstra, a pastor who teaches preaching and worship at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. We rarely ask God to heal our greed. Are your staff and faculty planning chapels for or with students? As a poet and hymn text writer, Debra Rienstra values simplicity. So is using worship clichés or cliché practices that much of a problem, as long as we’re sincere? It also reveals a desire for close affection with God as their love for Him is expressed. Most named only Jesus. 0000007386 00000 n As they visit churches, the Rienstra children have no trouble recognizing the difference between how God is spoken of in sermons and songs and how the Bible speaks of God. 0000003526 00000 n The Word of God is the best place to learn how to adore God. Read more », Branch, Stump of Jesse NEW CONDITION!! 0000005892 00000 n Worship requires a personal in0mate rela0onship with God. the angels I will sing your praise: I will worship at your holy temple and give thanks to your name.” (Ps 138:1-2) “I will extol you, O my God and King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. Excerpted from the book Seven Words of Worship: The Key to a Lifetime of Experiencing God. It normally does not cost excessive. It has also enlarged my vision and awareness of the praiseworthy God I love and serve and, I believe, increased the evidence of His godly character in my life. MULTIPLE COPIES AVAILABLE. BUY WITH CONFIDENCE! More than a subjective art form or tradition, Seven Words of Worship authors Mike Harland and Stan Moser explain that worship is foremost intended to be a pure and powerful declaration of love to God. “Just small changes can make a huge difference,” Debra Rienstra says. Like parents lovingly treasure the art of their children, so God chooses to accept the meager offerings of our worship as a token of cherished love. Never let worship be just an emotional response to the music, how the service is structured, or what we are used to; if this is so, you and your church have missed the point by a very large degree! She knows how to say a lot with few words. Even small steps spark change, especially in how worship language forms and informs children’s faith. In other words, don’t worship angels, worship God! Yet it’s easy to fall into reusing the same formulas instead of making the effort to examine familiar phrases with fresh eyes,” Debra Rienstra says. In Worship Words, you’ll find pithy stories and practical tips to help you plan worship that is structured, simple, and specific. And Can It Be And can it be that I should gain “We tend to ask again and again for certain things, such as salvation for souls or healing for physical ailments. He has led worship for 10 years in St. Louis, MO and in Panama City, FL. To discuss how songs picture God, Worship Words quotes Lester Ruth’s research on Trinitarian language in contemporary worship music. Worship Words networks writers and users across time and space and provides a place to share progressive prayers, songs and liturgies with others. God gave Moses the plan for allowing Himself to dwell in the presence of His people through the building of the ark of God and the tabernacle of God. In other words, while we can make inferences and prudential judgments about the role of visual arts in worship, we know for certain that their gatherings were infused with words. 0000005681 00000 n When your congregation’s worship language includes only a couple names for or aspects of God, then worshipers receive an imbalanced understanding of God. 0000005126 00000 n With their children, now ages 15, 13, and 9, they attended “too many churches to count” and “experienced a soul-boggling range of worship styles.”. “Our words form us whether or not we pay attention to how they are doing so. They have tended to equate this centrality of the Word with preaching. “Father God is a wonderfully biblical title—when infused with positive experiences of our own fathers and how they modeled love,” Ron Rienstra says. “Unfortunately, by asking God to ‘be with’ these people, we give the subtle impression that God is always wandering off and we have to keep calling God back to attention.... Don’t we believe that God is always present with us, whether we perceive that presence or not?” Rienstra writes. Or a worship leader can say, ‘As we enter worship…or prepare to sing this song, let’s be mindful of…”, In a helpful discussion of inclusive language and naming God, Debra Rienstra notes that even though “Christian orthodoxy insists that God is beyond gender,” we can’t help but imagine God as male if “we only ever use masculine pronouns for God.”. (22) The Forgiving God: "I want to bless You with praise, Father, because You are the forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love" (Nehemiah 9:17). She also shares a weakness common to other word lovers asked to offer the congregational prayer. God is a king, a rock, and a shepherd. The Rienstras presented an early version of the book to Fuller seminarians, who tested the ideas in churches and suggested tweaks. But more people will notice if the pastor also includes a notice in the bulletin or a sentence on the projection screen. Just as children quickly learn to speak with the vocabulary, tones, and inflections of their parents, so we learn to ‘speak’ our spiritual lives with the words and tones, with the emotional and theological range, of what we experience at worship,” she writes. God has revealed Himself in His Word. A Brief Instruction in the Worship of God by John Owen. Using words more intentionally in prayers, songs, sermons, and other spoken worship elements doesn’t have to be complicated. 0000017800 00000 n Ruth writes, “The songs tend to objectify God as the object of our worship activity. Notes for effective worship / John P. Nordin 4/ Page 4 of practice help or hinder the communication of God's benefits to us? Read more », Increasing Participation in High School Chapel Services I don’t know how we teach ourselves that God is active unless we speak, sing, pray, and preach about it. 5. Psalmfests, public festivals based on Psalms for All Seasons: A Complete Psalter for Worship, help worshipers cross boundaries of time and tradition, to explore the full spectrum of psalm singing. These questions, taken or adapted from Worship Words, will get people talking about the language you choose for worship. Worship is always offered to a greater being from a lesser being. Women and girls must claim God’s strength and justice. Simple doesn’t mean bland or generic. Address God with a name. His primary reason for creating man is fellowship. This book is a point of commencement for their quest of getting to know God. “The idea of broader, richer names and images of God—they got that right away,” their mom says. How do you most often picture God in your mind? 8. "However, they did not merely take dictation. “It helps to leave some space, some silence, so people can vividly attend to what God might say to their grief, fear, or joy,” Ron Rienstra says. I am very easily can get a satisfaction of reading a created publication. 0000002077 00000 n This is a "start here" book for those with a real longing for God and a real praise in their heart for Him. Still, it’s easier to talk about reclaiming the beauty and meaning of words than do it. 0000005870 00000 n You might structure the intercessory prayer on emotions, such as grief, fear, and joy, to help worshipers “get out of their heads” and bring their whole lives to God in prayer. Some would insist, further, that the preacher speaks "God's Words." No other writings are like this." The authors devote a chapter to “chatter and patter,” their term for the casual Protestant worship style that many churches have adopted, probably in reaction to yesteryear’s stiff, cold, formal worship. 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